One Lasallian's thoughts

From the first reading for the sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time: “The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp."

From the gospel: “A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, ‘If you wish, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’ The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean."

Br. Bruno Alpago, FSC, The Institute in the Educational Service of the Poor, writes:"Pupils in a Brothers’ school found themselves in a school that was demanding, but which was there to help them. All attention was really focused on them. Everything was organised to help them to make progress, and they were able to see the progress they were making. . . The treatment the pupil received from the teacher was permeated with respect and love. . . As a result of such treatment, the artisans and the poor could be led to believe in a God of love and hope."

The leper encounters Jesus, and, as a result, is no longer alienated from his people. The children of the artisans and the poor attended the earliest Lasallian schools, and, in the education and treatment they received, were brought into a community of God’s people that made sense in their lives. There are those in our community who are treated as lepers, who do not believe that there is a God who truly loves them unconditionally, or are isolated even as they walk in the courtyard with their peers. Will we be to them as Jesus was to the leper? Will we really focus all attention on them and organize what we do in a way that will help them make progress?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!

From the first reading of the fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: “And the Lord said to [Moses] . . . I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and I will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.'"

From De La Salle’s Meditations: “[The students] must also be convinced that they are a letter that Jesus Christ dictates to you, which you write each day in their heart, not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, who acts in you and by you through the power of Jesus Christ." (195.2)

I have been listening to Super Bowl pre-game programming on ESPN Radio today, and an ad about working at home that has run several times got stuck in my head. The opening line is: “Are you tired of commuting to a job that makes somebody else rich?" I kept answering the question: “Doesn’t apply – I work for a non-profit!" A little while ago, it dawned on me that my answer was completely wrong. If I listen to God’s Word to me – if we all listen to the Word shared with us – and share it with our students, then our students do indeed grow rich! Looking at it this way, I will never grow tired of my 35 minute one way commute. Ever.

In our prayer this week, let us ask for the renewal of our baptismal and vocational call to be prophets, the openness and wisdom to hear and see the words, the truth, the beauty, and the love that God is sharing with us for the benefit of our students, and the fortitude to ensure that these same riches are written into their hearts.

From the first reading of the third Sunday in Ordinary Time: “Jonah had begun his journey through the city and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, ‘Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,’ when the people of Nineveh believed God . . . “

From the second reading: “For the world in its present form is passing away."

From the gospel: “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'"

Transformation. God’s message, conveyed by Jonah, caused the people of Nineveh to repent and believe in God. Paul’s message to the Corinthians is a reminder to us as well: living as part of the Body of Christ should result in a world transformed, different than its “present form." And the message of Christ in Mark’s gospel is clear: Change, repent, transform, now! The kingdom of God itself is right here! Be transformed!

How appropriate, then, that these readings come at the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, and particularly for us as Lasallian educators. For this is what De La Salle’s program for the Lasallian school was all about: “The person that the Founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools wished to produce is the truly Christian person – or better, the true follower of Jesus Christ. That goes far beyond knowledge of the catechism. It is the whole life that is involved." This is what we do: transform our students for the Body of Christ. Have a hard time believing it sometimes? This last Saturday was just a simple proof: students willingly here for hours for a Student Life workshop, or to work on a children’s story, or the yearbook, or to go to mass and a meal, or sharing their learning at the University of Arizona. Even simpler examples: the student who finally speaks up in class, the failing student who finally got the problem right on the first try, a freshmen who smiled for the first time all year, last year’s lost transfer student who is now helping younger students. And in our participation in these simple miracles, the joy we feel, the inspiration these student examples give us – we are also transformed.

By my quick count, there were over fifty eighth graders here taking the HSPT Saturday. If they didn’t sense that the Kingdom of God was truly here, on our campus, with the opportunity for transformation, why were they here?

Happy Catholic Schools Week – Transform, Jesus, our hearts forever!!

From the gospel for the second Sunday of Ordinary Time: “So they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day. . . Andrew . . . was one of the two who . . . followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah.'"

From De La Salle’s Meditations: “Because you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ." (195.2)

It did not take very long at all for the first disciples to see and understand that Jesus was the Messiah whom they sought. We are to represent that same Messiah.

When students come into your learning space, do they follow you and quickly perceive that you are the ambassador and minister of the Messiah? In the way that you live out your vocation, are they inspired to further seek their own calling from God?

Live, Jesus, in our hearts!